As stated in my intro my wifes grandfather passed almost a year ago and we are transporting his collection from NY to TN. In the collection is a 59 and a 77. When pulling the 77 out of the garage it had been sitting in for 15 years, we could not get the car into neutral, it was complete locked up. Upon further inspection he (Grandfather) had stored the car with a full tank of gas and perhaps Stabil since the gas did not smell varnished at all. So we dropped a battery and it fired right up in the hopes we could get the car into gear and pull it up on the trailer, but no go. (Oh yeah this is a manual, sbc car.) When the car is idling and in neutral the car will not roll either, I cannot get the car in gear while running only when the car is shut off, with the car in gear and we try to start it the car moves, like it should when in gear. I originally thought it was the rear rotors that were rusted solid but after taking one of the rear calipers it became apparent that the axle had a little bit of play in it as if it were in park, but it's not. soooo, Where should I look next? Oh yeah I also crawled under the car and checked the linkage to make sure of proper travel and everything there seem to be fine..
Sorry for such a long rambling, I'm sure it's an easy pressure plate issue or something else very common I'm just not familiar with sticks.

Thanks a lot for any help, Jeremy
BTW- don't worry all fluids will be drained and filters changed before it gets any miles put on it.

 

It could be the clutch disc is rusted to the flywheel. Pretty common on manual trans cars that have set for a long time. Most of the time, if you can get it rolling with the engine off, and in gear, you can pop it loose, Not always. Sometimes you have to pull it out. Good luck,

 

I forgot to mention I ended up pulling the car out of the garage and then down the driveway to the trailer where I had to use a wench to pull it up on the trailer.

Perhaps I'll pull it again put this time popping the clutch.
Maybe it's the cars weight, but I pulled it fairly easy with the rear wheels locked up.
Thanks for the reply

 

Hold the clutch down and see if maybe you can rock the car- sometimes it'll break loose that way. I've also had some luck towing (slowly) holding the clutch down in gear and working the pedal up & down, but again, not always. I have had to bite the bullet and pull the tranny.

I re read your first post- since it runs, you may be able to get it moving in low, push the clutch, and lock the brakes.

 

your emergency brakes may also be dragging.....try disengaing them by backing off the star adjuster that you access through the rear rotor

 

several things to look into for sure: Clutch plate stuck to flywheel ot pressure plate, Tranny stuck in 2 gears and park brakes rusted to the hubs. Some combination of those should get it to roll

 

Thanks a lot guys, Since I already took off the drivers side caliper and removed one pad and noticed that there was still a "park" condition so I 'm pretty confident it is a rusted clutch to the flywheel issue.

I really wish I had try some of those tricks before I pulled it on the trailer.

Thanks for all the feedback , Jeremy

 

The park brake pads are inside the back side of the rear rotor "Hats". With some PB Blaster and a screwdriver you may be able to free the park brake. There should be some movement at the wheel then.

 

Same thing happened to the car I bought. Sat for 20 years and the clutch disc was rusted to the flywheel. If the car has brakes that work (mine didn't) you could start the car with the rear wheels off the ground in gear and then apply the brakes with the clutch depressed to try and break the disc free.

 

Well I'm in the same boat as you....
Mine had been sitting for 14 yrs and it's doing the same thing I got mine running but right now the calipers are also shot.
I've tried everything to break it loose but with the aluminum transmission I don't want to be to hard on it thinking it will break something I don't want to pay big money for so.....
I'm biting the bullet and pulling the tranny out and replacing the plate and bearings.
So good luck!!!!